Arlington has a new gameday spot. Loma TXMX is near the home of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys. It opens just in time for the Rangers’ home opener, then the World Cup.
Sarah Blaskovich/Staff
Where’s dinner this month in Dallas-Fort Worth? A steady stream of new restaurants debuted in North Texas in March, which means April is prime time to dine.
Some of the bigger restaurant openings include Caffe Lucca in Dallas, co-owned by a former Dallas Cowboys coach; Meraki in Fort Worth, the 20th restaurant from prolific chef Tim Love; a new bakery, The Bread Club, next to Dallas Michelin-starred restaurant Mamani; and the triumphant return of Cosmic Cafe and Pangea, two local favorites.
Article continues below this ad
Our Hot List has spots for family dinners, date nights, big spenders and budget diners. Did we miss your most anticipated restaurant this month? Email sblaskovich@dallasnews.com and tell us where you’re eating.
Restaurants listed in alphabetical order.
Acquario Pizza Pasta Bar in Keller
It can be tough to find a restaurant that’s right for the whole family. Acquario Pizza Pasta Bar in Keller is a new casual spot where kids are welcome and food is well executed. Executive chef Gimmy Piperku, who is from Rome, is making Neapolitan-style pizzas and plates of pasta. Consider starting lunch or dinner with puccia bread dipped in whipped eggplant. It’s an eat-with-your-hands appetizer that kids and parents alike will love.
Article continues below this ad
Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.
Add Preferred Source
Acquario Pizza Pasta Bar is at 967 Keller Parkway, Keller. Open for lunch and dinner six days a week. Closed Mondays.
The Bread Club in Uptown Dallas
This pretty shop in Uptown Dallas would make for a great coffee date with a friend, especially if the weather’s nice and you share a chocolate croissant or salted caramel oatmeal cookie under a patio umbrella. But don’t leave without a loaf of bread. It’s in the name, after all, and The Bread Club is serious about baguettes, focaccia and the like.
Article continues below this ad
The Bread Club is at 2681 Howell St., Dallas. Open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch.
Caffe Lucca in Dallas
If there’s one restaurant on this list worth a reservation ASAP, it’s former Dallas Cowboys football player and coach Jason Garrett’s new spot, Caffe Lucca. Its Sicilian menu was created by Julian Barsotti, who owns Dallas Italian restaurants Nonna and Fachini. Barsotti said Sicily is the “gateway between the East to the West,” and the menu reflects the island’s many influences: Greek, Roman, French, Spanish, North African and more. I’m most intrigued by the spicy Moroccan lamb meatball sandwich and the butter chicken entrée with tzatziki.
You might be asking: How did our former football coach become a restaurateur? Garrett explains this unexpected venture.
Article continues below this ad
Caffe Lucca is at 4445 Travis St., Dallas. Open seven days a week, dinner only for now. Lunch is expected to be added.
Cosmic Cafe in Dallas’ Oak Lawn
When beloved vegetarian restaurant Cosmic Cafe closed in 2021, we mourned the friendly, welcoming place that felt unlike anywhere else in Dallas. We didn’t expect Cosmic Cafe to eventually return, with former head chef Deepak Chalise as the owner, but we love a comeback story. It’s time for another visit to Cosmic Cafe for the curried vegetables, hummus, Pizza Mystica and more.
Cosmic Cafe is at 2912 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Article continues below this ad
Craft in North Dallas
Dallas could use more rooftop patios, and Preston Center just got a new one with the opening of Craft Beer Market. On top of the restaurant is a massive beer garden with a bocce court and a big bar. Downstairs, the restaurant feels like an upscale sports bar where diners can snack on sushi, burgers, ramen, steak and pizza. The Dallas restaurant is the first in the United States for this Calgary-based brand, but it likely isn’t the last.
Craft Beer Market is at 5974 W. Northwest Highway, Dallas. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Delilah in the Dallas Design District
Old Hollywood supperclub Delilah was the toughest reservation to get in Dallas earlier this year. It’s still difficult to snag a seat on the weekends before 10 p.m., but reservations are easier to get midweek, even during prime time. Scene-seekers, you’ll feel right at home at Delilah, a moody restaurant where you can eat big, drink big and spend big.
Article continues below this ad
Delilah is at 1616 Hi Line Drive, Dallas. Evenings only. Closed Mondays.
Hickory House in Dallas’ Stemmons Corridor
You’ve got another month or two to grab breakfast, lunch or dinner at Hickory House, the barbecue and burger joint slated to close May 30, 2026 on Riverfront Boulevard. Hickory House is among Dallas’ oldest restaurants, around since the 1950s. Regulars like it for the cheap breakfast, huge burgers and daily meat-and-three lunch specials. So it’s a shame, then, that owner Nick Spyropoulos is getting priced out by another tenant “willing to pay high rent for an old building on a beat-up stretch of street at last getting its long-promised, high-priced makeover,” as Dallas Morning News columnist Robert Wilonsky reported.
Hickory House is at 600 S. Riverfront Blvd., Dallas. Open six days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays.
Article continues below this ad
Ichika in Plano
Is this the smallest restaurant in Plano? Maybe: Ichika is a new Japanese restaurant with seats for just eight people. Dinner includes eight courses, from soup and rice to raw and grilled fish. Brace yourself: It’s $250 per person, making this tasting menu one of the priciest in the region. Reservations are required. The chef-owner told our Imelda García he hopes Michelin’s anonymous critics look Ichika’s way.
Ichika is at 8240 Preston Road, Plano. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays, dinner only.
Kilmac’s in Oak Cliff
So you’re looking for a patio. With an interesting cocktail. And a slice of pizza. Kilmac’s is here to serve. I might head straight to the uncovered patio on sunny days, where an Airstream trailer moonlights as a garden bar. If it gets too hot, the cool and dark interior bar is a few steps away.
Article continues below this ad
Kilmac’s gets bonus points for its origin story: It comes from the team who founded The Old Monk, one of Dallas’ best bars.
Kilmac’s is at 814 W. Davis St., Dallas. Open Wednesdays through Sundays. Evenings only, for now.
Loma TXMX in Arlington
Restaurateur Brandon Hurtado promised his new restaurant would start serving in time for the Texas Rangers’ home opener. He’s kept that promise: On April 2, 2026, the day before the first 2026 Rangers game in Arlington, upscale Tex-Mex restaurant Loma will start selling fajitas and margaritas. It’s located across the street from Globe Life Field and Texas Live. Remember it next time you’re entertaining out-of-towners and want to show them Tex-Mex.
Article continues below this ad
Loma TXMX is at 1011 Nolan Ryan Expressway South, Arlington. Open seven days a week starting April 2, 2026.
Meraki in Fort Worth
Fort Worth chef Tim Love has opened his 20th restaurant. Meraki marks the first time Love is doing Mediterranean food, after he earned a reputation for open-fire cooking and wild game, most specifically from his first restaurant, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.
Meraki is breezier and more beautiful: “I want you to feel like you got off this badass yacht in the Med and walked into a great restaurant,” Love said. The menu includes dips like hummus and muhamarra, a selection of crudos and kebabs, and whole roasted fish lit on fire tableside. Go for Sunday lunch and you’ll find a day-drinking crowd, ready to party.
Article continues below this ad
Meraki is at 1615 Rogers Road, Fort Worth. Open six days a week for lunch and dinner, and on Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Namak Indian Cuisine in Northeast Dallas
Namak is not a new Indian restaurant on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue, but it’s new to me. I stopped in for lunch with a friend and was thrilled by the pea-and-potato samosas topped with yogurt, tamarind relish and pomegranates. I’ll be back soon for lamb vindaloo, chicken korma or tikka masala. Lunch portions are large enough for leftovers.
Namak Indian Cuisine is at 5500 Greenville Ave., Dallas. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Article continues below this ad
The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque in Arlington
Few restaurants could take over a former Texas Land and Cattle Steak House, where the interior fireplace is so large, you could probably drive a truck through it. But this former meat mecca makes sense as a massive barbecue place, and the owners of the Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque seem right at home. The restaurant is just down the road from the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys stadiums, and it’s hard to miss: The owners built a smokehouse out front, offering free smells for hungry passersby.
The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque is at 1600 E. Copeland Road, Arlington. Open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Pangea in downtown Dallas
Remember learning about supercontinent Pangea in school? Chef-owner Kevin Ashade’s downtown Dallas restaurant has food from literally all over the map. “Here, we serve Japanese, Asian, Caribbean, African, Italian, French, Chinese, Mexican — you name it,” he told García. If you go, report back: Should I get the gumbo with jerk-roasted lamb shank? Or a hamachi sushi roll followed by pasta with creamy sun-dried tomato sauce?
Article continues below this ad
Pangea is at 1910 Pacific Ave., Dallas. Open for dinner Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and all day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Mondays.
Shorty’s Coneys and Cocktails in McKinney
Let’s take a jaunt to downtown McKinney, where burger and hot dog shop Shorty’s opened in one of the neighborhood’s oldest buildings. The menu features a chili recipe inspired by the San Antonio Chili Queens some 130 years ago, and the name of the restaurant is inspired by the Pennsylvania diner where owner Bryan McVay learned to cook as a teen. Shorty’s feels simple and accessible, two things we need more of at restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Shorty’s Coneys and Cocktails is at 109 N. Kentucky St., McKinney. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Article continues below this ad
Shyboy in downtown Dallas
Shyboy isn’t a restaurant, but hear me out. It’s a music venue first, a bar second. (And, if you’re hungry, there’s just one item available: soft-serve ice cream.) Shyboy comes from the Dallas team that owns chic lunch spot Mirador, sexy steakhouse Tango Room and basement cocktail bar Midnight Rambler. If any of those tickle your fancy, stop at Shyboy for music, art and a drink. As the man who created it says, “There’s no place like it in Dallas.”
By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy.
Shyboy is at 1313 Main St., Dallas. Open Wednesdays through Sundays, evenings only.
Article continues below this ad
Check out past Hot Lists